This selective, annotated bibliography covers library service to the blind, partially sighted, and physically handicapped who are unable to use conventional printed materials. Coverage is limited to library-related activities in the United States, including items on services, programs, projects, and materials in libraries of all types. The 119…

The hypothesis that letters can be matched on the basis of tactual physical features was tested in three experiments with blind Braille-reading children. (Editor)

The article considers advantages and limitations of tactile, auditory, and visual means of microcomputer access for blind students. Discussed are electronic braille, paper braille, the Optacon, synthesized speech, and enlarged print. Improved multimedia access technology is predicted for the future. (Author/DB)

This directory lists the names of volunteer groups, individual transcribers, and nonprofit and commercial organizations that transcribe and record books and other reading materials for persons who are blind and physically handicapped. It was compiled from information supplied by organizations and groups who perform these services. The listing is…

Explains ...the automated reading of the printed page resulting in a sequence of character codes which can be further processed to make the information available to a blind person in the form of Grade II Braille, spelled speech, or synthesized speech." (Author)

Discussion from a public meeting sponsored by the Los Angeles Area Committee of the American Foundation for the Blind (April 29, 1970). (KW)

The study was designed to identify various problems encountered by 194 children who read braille and use conventional basal reading programs transcribed into that medium. The results showed educationally significant variability in chronological age, years in school, and grade level for blind children using basal reader materials designed for…

Contributions that have been and will be made by science and technology in reducing the handicaps experienced by blind and visually impaired individuals are reviewed. The contributions are examined in terms of two major categories of handicap: communication and mobility. (Author/DB)

This study investigated the effects of Braille instruction via interactive video-teleconferencing distance education on 12 South Dakota families and instructional assistants of students with visual impairments. Participants (and their children) were enthusiastic about the course and there was evidence of increased parental involvement in their…

This literature review examines the research on the use of right and left hands in the reading of braille. Results suggest that right-handed people may read braille more accurately with the left hand. Studies have also found differences between girls and boys and changes over the developmental period. (DB)

Discussion of assistive, or adaptive, technology highlights major technologies that help physically impaired individuals at home, work, and school. Technologies described include voice recognition, microswitches, communication boards, headsticks and mouthsticks, vision control, adaptive keyboards, word prediction software, electronic readers,…

Describes the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and discusses its implications for both public and private libraries. The term "disability" is defined; sources of federal regulations that pertain to libraries are cited; the need for sign language interpreters is discussed; Braille materials are considered; and staff requirements are…

Twenty-six expert adult readers, 13 of whom were blind, were compared for how they perceived and retrieved written information. The study found that braille readers were not limited to the isolated identification of individual braille characters as previously thought, but could integrate greater quantities of written information. Implications for…

In this qualitative research, case study interviews were conducted to provide an in-depth examination of the meaning of braille in the lives of eight legally blind adults. Issues of self-esteem, self-identity, and the "stigma" of being a person with a disability were found to be integrally intertwined with the subjects' expressed feelings about…